and the song was exciting
by mynameisinigo
Summary: Opening night at the Blackbox Theater. "Ms. West, what attracted you to the role of Fantine?" / Of Les Mis, Jade West, despair, and the future. One-shot.


**A one-shot inspired by the recent Les Mis movie. If there are any hardcore Les Mis fans reading this, I apologize for any inaccuracies or differences of opinion. **

**Disclaimer: Nope, not mine.**

Hollywood Arts plays were always well-attended, but the opening night of _Les Miserables_ was practically a red carpet event. Not only had the usual suspects turned up (proud parents, reluctant younger siblings, students who hadn't made the cast but were prepared to mercilessly judge the performers against their [inflated] perception of their own abilities), but a few Hollywood producers and scouts had deigned to make an appearance.

"Oh my God. Is that Alan Gruber?"

"Yes! He produced that awesome movie with the dying chick, right?"

"_Death Do Us Part,_ yeah!"

"You know, I heard a bunch of college scouts are here to see the leads. That must be like, mondo pressure."

"Yeah, I hope they can handle it."

Elaine Tanner, one of the college scouts in question, found herself hoping the same thing. Bespectacled, decked out in her nicest tweed skirt and favorite pair of sensible shoes, Mrs. Tanner was difficult to impress and looked the part.

As the proud department head of the Barden University Drama Department and awarder of its single full scholarship, she watched hundreds of audition videos each year. Of those many hopefuls, she annually chose five scholarship finalists and attended each of their school performances.

She entered every high school auditorium with the same yearning: to be _dazzled _by her protégés (that's the word she used in her mind), to be _knocked off_ her comfortably heeled feet. She hoped each time that no co-star would outshine her chosen one, that no weak note or forgotten line would ruin her star's performance.

Elaine Tanner wanted to be impressed. But impressing Elaine Tanner was no simple feat.

_Les Miserables _is unusually difficult for a high school drama department to put on.

Hollywood Arts had an unusually excellent drama department.

_Les Miserables_ at Hollywood Arts was, by extension, unusually excellent.

While sophomore who had unexpectedly nabbed the role of Jean Valjean was magnificently earnest, everyone agreed that the seniors truly stole the show. Beck Oliver played a morally tortured Javert, Robbie Shapiro showed comedic genius as Thenardier, Andre Harris burned with zealous intensity as Enjolras, leader of the revolutionaries, and Cat Valentine was lovely and airy as Cosette.

But the tragedy that is _Les Mis _really comes down to two roles, two songs.

"On My Own" and "I Dreamed a Dream".

Eponine and Fantine.

Tori Vega and Jade West.

The good people of Hollywood Arts had watched the power struggle between the two aspiring talents for years. Or rather, they had watched Jade struggle for years to get the parts she believed she deserved, parts that Tori Vega always got.

So in January, the good people of Hollywood Arts noted the casting of Jade as Fantine and Tori as Eponine with marked interest. And in March, the good people of Hollywood Arts sat in the Blackbox Theater waiting to see which of the actresses would steal the show and their hearts.

Reviews were unanimous.

"On My Own" was superb. And from Tori Vega, they had expected nothing less.

But "I Dreamed a Dream" was absolutely heartbreaking. Devastating. Tragic. More than a few audience members openly wept at Fantine's agony. Even more wiped away a discreet tear. The applause went on and on as the cast members performing "Lovely Ladies" waited in the wings.

From her third row seat, Elaine Tanner smiled through her dewy eyes. Jade West, she mused, was dazzling.

Forty-two musical numbers and one standing ovation later, Mrs. Tanner approached her potential star.

"Ms. West?"

The actress turned from the excited cast mate (Cat, was it?) she had been chatting with to face the professor.

"I'm Elaine Tanner from Barden University. We spoke over the phone last week—"

"Yes, it's nice to meet you in person." Jade smiled a gracious, reserved smile and shook Mrs. Tanner's proffered hand.

"Is there somewhere we could speak? I try to interview all of our scholarship finalists."

"Lane can probably open up a classroom for us. Let me ask him."

The guidance counselor appeared annoyed when Jade interrupted his conversation with the attractive new math teacher, but after a short exchange, the vaguely intimidated man led Jade and Elaine to an empty classroom. Mrs. Tanner settled into the teacher's chair, while Jade pulled up a stool.

"Excellent performance, Ms. West."

"That means a lot coming from you. Thank you."

"Did you audition specifically for the role of Fantine?"

"Yes, I did." Jade punctuated her reply with a firm nod.

"I ask because you sent in a performance of 'On My Own' as your audition piece for Barden University" A look of realization dawned on Jade's face. "I assumed you would want to play Eponine in your school production of _Les Miserables_. Tell me, what changed after you sent in that video? Were you concerned over competition for the part of Eponine?"

The last question wasn't quite polite. Many young actresses would have been hurt by such an insinuation (they were a fragile lot), but Jade, a blunt person herself, didn't notice the lack of manners.

"I forgot that I did 'On My Own'. It was such a long time ago."

She seemed to shake off a bit of nostalgia and consider her words.

"When I was making the video, 'On My Own' fit with what was going on in my personal life. And I do love Eponine, I do. She wants so much, but she gets so little, and she sacrifices for what little she has. But—" She struggled to find words.

"Fantine is a more… meaningful character. Eponine is heartbreak, and I've known heartbreak, but Fantine represents despair. And despair is so much bigger than not getting the boy. Despair is the father who won't love you and the mother who can't. It's losing everything important to you, including your dignity."

Jade took a deep breath and forged on.

"Eponine is heartbreaking. But she's not hopeless—she has some control over what happens to her. She stops her father from robbing Valjean's house, and fights at the barricade, and she dies bravely. She even dies in Marius' arms. It's a sort of redemption. But Fantine is a _victim_, which is so much more tragic, and universal. Receiving a fate you didn't earn is-"

She paused a moment to collect herself.

"It's devastating. Hopeless. Since the first slave, the first prostitute, the first human being, there's been someone who's been hopeless. Acting is lying, but you lie to show a greater truth. The truth I wanted to show was despair. That's why I wanted Fantine."

Elaine Tanner stared at the young woman before her, trying to hide her utter amazement at the profundity of her answer.

"Ms. West, I must say I'm quite impressed."

As mentioned before, Mrs. Elaine Tanner was a difficult woman to impress, a trait that proved unfortunate for the other four finalists. Kimberly Watson was above average as Maria in _West Side Story_. Larry Kura was better than mediocre as Danny Zuko in _Grease_. Andrea Miguez was fairly convincing as the titular character in _Thoroughly Modern Millie._ It was Gregory Rivera's performance in _Music Man,_ however, that sealed Mrs. Tanner's decision.

"Jade, why don't you ever log out of your email?"

"I forget, Beck, just log out for me."

"But this is my computer!" A resigned sigh. "Fine."

Before he could click the proper button, however, a subject heading caught his eye.

"Wait, hold on, have you heard of the Nunn Endowment for the Arts Scholarship?"

Jade's eyes went wide. She moved from her languid position on Beck's bed to pluck the laptop off of his lap. A few clicks later, the screen's light illuminated her look of mild shock.

"Jade?" Beck eyed his girlfriend anxiously from his spot on the floor. "What happened?"

She bit her lip (one of her many habits he secretly found adorable). He was the only one who could recognize the excitement and trepidation behind her expression.

"I got it."

"Got what?"

She smiled his favorite smile.

"A full ride to Barden."

**Please review! Was Jade in character? Was the dialogue decent? Did this story make you want to claw your eyes out? I'd really appreciate any feedback you have to offer.**


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